It’s starting to feel like a party in Charlotte.
After a raucous 20-17 overtime thriller against the New York Giants in Germany, the Carolina Panthers hit their Week 11 bye on back-to-back wins. This is the first time the team won consecutive games without a bye week to split them since 2021.
Bryce Young's numbers have rebounded into serviceable game manager lines. He led a comeback scoring drive that ended in a touchdown for the first time in his career against the New Orleans Saints. He's growing in confidence and has the full support of his teammates.
The rest of the team also rallied. The defense, which mustered only seven sacks and six takeaways in the first eight weeks, has tallied five sacks, two interceptions, and three fumbles recovered in the three contests since Young returned.
They have allowed fewer points than the previous week’s total for four straight games. Chuba Hubbard emerged as one of the league’s star running backs and head coach Dave Canales has adjusted his game plan to let the offense go through him, taking further pressure off Young.
The Panthers went from potentially picking at No. 1 overall in the 2024 NFL Draft to No. 8. At 3-7, they are implausibly only two and a half games back for the division.
While predicting a sudden playoff push would be chasing fool’s gold, they are in a remarkably better spot than they were at the same time last year. That deserves commendation.
The final seven weeks of the season are going to be a real test for this team, especially for Young and Canales. On this topic, several best-case scenarios await the Panthers regardless of the results.
Best case Carolina Panthers scenarios after the 2024 bye week
Carolina Panthers' remaining schedule
There are not a lot of projected wins on the Carolina Panthers' schedule after the bye. The only game they could feasibly be favored in would be against the injury-depleted Dallas Cowboys.
Winning one or more of these would have some natural benefits. Any triumph would be a significant upset over a better team, which would be huge for the Panthers’ culture and confidence.
They've already surpassed their 2023 win total and officially hit a season-by-season upward trajectory, but that was an incredibly low bar. Winning another game and officially doubling their output is a quantifiable benchmark that is not unreasonable to reach.
Not all is lost if this doesn’t come to pass. The Panthers have a lot to gain by losing out.
The remaining schedule is a convenient excuse and likely keeps the coaches off the hot seat, allowing them to dig into their bag of tricks and experiment with younger players. There isn’t a ton left to play for other than continued development for Bryce Young and rookies such as receivers Xavier Legette and Jalen Coker. Though the team is not mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, they would have to win out and achieve help elsewhere to have a shot.
Draft positioning is also a factor. The NFL is more bottom-heavy than in years past, emphasized by the Panthers leaping up to eighth in the draft order after their back-to-back wins. The top of this year’s draft class is loaded with defensive talent. Losing out would position Carolina to take someone like Colorado’s Travis Hunter, Penn State’s Abdul Carter, or Michigan’s Will Johnson.
The best-case scenario here is a tough one to call. It’s always best to win and that is never going to change. While the team has a shot at the playoffs, let’s say the best scenario is to win out and get there.
However, that is not realistic.